1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to gaming systems and to gaming machines used to present gaming results. More particularly, the invention relates to a gaming system in which players may select from a number of different playing mode options available at a player station in the system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various games are played with predefined elements, such as bingo cards that each include a number of bingo game designations such as Arabic numerals randomly arranged in a desired manner, commonly in a grid. The bingo game designations on the cards are selected from a pool of available game designations. Once all the cards for a game have been purchased, game designations from the available pool of game designations are selected at random. As the game designations are selected and announced in the game, the players match the randomly selected game designations with the designations printed on their respective card or cards. This matching and marking of matched designations on the bingo card is commonly referred to as “daubing” the card. The player first producing a predetermined pattern of matches between the randomly selected game designations and the printed card designations is considered the winner. Consolation prizes may be awarded to players having cards matched to produce consolation prize patterns at the time of the winning pattern.
There are numerous variations on the traditional games, such as bingo. One variation of the traditional bingo game is played with electronic bingo card representations rather than the traditional printed bingo cards. In these bingo-type games, each bingo card is represented by a data structure that defines the various card locations and designations associated with the locations. This bingo-type game is played through player stations connected via a communications network to a central or host computer system. The central computer system is responsible for storing the bingo card representations and distributing or communicating bingo card representations to players at the player stations. The player stations display the bingo cards defined by the card representations and also allow the players to daub or mark designation matches as game designations are announced in the game.
A primary advantage of electronic games, such as bingo, is that the games may be played at a much faster pace than is practical with traditional paper bingo. Another advantage of electronic version of various games, such as bingo, is that the games can be administered and controlled from a remote location and actually played at a number of different establishments.
Traditional games, either played with paper or electronic representations, are limited in the manner in which the results of a game may be displayed. Furthermore, it is desirable to further increase the speed at which various games may be played. Yet it is essential that the game retain the basic characteristics of original versions of an electronic game, namely that the game is played with predefined elements or representations which the players may identify or match against randomly generated game designations. In some games, the game winner is the first player to match the designations with a predetermined winning pattern, such as bingo.